Please help Christine and Kayla get the handicap vehicle they need!

I met Christine and Kayla when I was an Early Intervention Special Instructor in Lycoming County for Hope Enterprises in 2005. We have remained in contact all of these years and our stories are woven together through our many interactions. Christine also became more of a mentor to me after I had Andrew and has helped us immensely through the medical and special needs systems that we were thrown into or needed to find.

Kayla is a beautiful, smart 22-year old with physical, mental, and emotional limitations. She was

born with multiple birth anomalies including cerebral palsy and a feeding disorder requiring a

tube feeding for all nutrition (includes a congenital hiatal intestinal hernia operated on four times

with reoccurrence and still existing.) She also has special needs when it comes to equipment to help her become more independent. As Kayla has grown up, her independence needs have changed and, in some sense, become greater. Kayla is no longer in the school system (she has aged out) where she used the power wheelchair she was blessed with daily, as it could be transported with a handicap bus or van to school and back. While she has the power wheelchair she needs, the family has no way to travel with it. It is too heavy to lift. Due to the inability of her mom to get a wheelchair accessible van this power wheelchair now sits at home.

They have tried some other solutions:

Mom had a hitch installed on the back of her Ford explorer SUV and had a rack installed into the hitch to take the power wheelchair places. After the second time of using it, they were rear-ended and the rack was twisted. It was temporarily fixed while they looked for other options. They found a power lift that worked specifically with her vehicle and the make of the power wheelchair. This was installed and used before winter two times. Then spring came and they finally started to use this, but then found out that there was a suspension issue and it was lifting the front of the vehicle up, making it very unsafe to be out on the highways. Therefore, it was advised that they only use it to go around town. This limited their abilities to go out and be in public and Kayla misses the independence that the power

wheelchair provides. The power lift that was installed, eventually bent and had to be taken back to the dealer to be worked on. The power wheelchair is currently not usable in the winter time due to snow, sleet, and road salt that could end up in both the lift and the power wheelchair.

In the meantime, Christine has to lift Kayla (80 lbs) into their vehicle and then also lift the manual wheelchair (50 lbs) into their vehicle, putting more strain on her lower back. This has limited them from going places as it is very hard on Christine’s back as she gets older and it has also limited Kayla’s independence with being able to get around on her own with the power wheelchair. A handicap accessible vehicle would solve all their problems when it comes to safety, travel, and independence for Kayla with her electric wheelchair. The wheelchair accessible van is much safer for the power chair and gives Kayla ease of transport as she will be able to drive herself right into the van. She can then be

strapped down into the van and take off with no anxiety that she could potentially be

dropped while being lifted into or out of the SUV and into her manual wheelchair. This also

would allow for more options to be able to go out and do more things in the community. It would

also allow Kayla to develop more independence because she can drive herself around

more freely in her power wheelchair. The inability to use the power wheelchair is potentially keeping her from being able to leave home for many days over winter. Kayla is a social butterfly and really enjoys being out visiting at the park, shopping at the local Walmart, and enjoying friends at a local program. Those activities are all limited due to the amount of lifting to get her in and out of the vehicle excessively day after day.

Helping Kayla regain independence will increase her social skills. And allow her to make new

friends, all both of which are important. She currently experiences anxiety just leaving

her home due to how she has to transition from the wheelchair to the SUV and back now.

Any assistance or help to this single mom attempting to provide the best life for her

daughter would be greatly appreciated and also give her relief as her back is aging

faster than she is.

Here is a testimony from Angel on her experience with Christine and Kayla’s needs:

I had the pleasure of meeting Christine and Kayla for the first time last summer when they came to get their hair trimmed. I saw firsthand how she had to lift her daughter from the chair to the car. This is not a simple task. Then again, we met to take Kayla to Knoebels Amusement Park with some friends, and again, Christine was lifting her back and forth from the wheelchair to the car. This is so taxing on her physical body and Kayla as well! This van would be such a blessing to not only Christine and Kayla but could possibly open up other opportunities to take Kayla more places as well.